Scraper blades may be used to scrape material off of conveyor belts. Some conventional approaches utilize a tensioning mechanism that maintains a section of the scraper blade against the conveyor belt. In one approach, the scraper blade has a urethane tip for scraping the conveyor belt and a metal insert used for mounting the scraper blade to an elongate support member assembly that extends across the belt. The urethane tip is molded onto the metal insert by pouring molten urethane into a mold containing the metal insert and allowed to harden on the metal insert. The metal insert provides a rigid base for securely connecting the blade to the support member.
A problem with scraper blades that utilize a urethane tip molded onto a metal insert is that the loading on the urethane tip during use of the scraper blade may cause the urethane tip to separate from the metal insert. One approach for addressing this issue is to use interlocking features on the urethane tip and the metal insert. The interlocking features may include thin arms extending laterally outward from side walls of the metal insert. Once the urethane hardens on the metal insert, the arms have flat surfaces that abut the urethane and ends that dig into the urethane and restrict movement of the urethane away from the metal insert. Although the thin arms of the metal insert restrict movement of the large pieces of the urethane, some large pieces of the urethane are unsupported and may move relative to the insert due to the somewhat flexible properties of the urethane. Further, the laterally extending arms narrows the lateral thickness of the urethane tip as measured from the ends of the arms to laterally outer surfaces of scraper blade. The narrowed lateral thickness of the urethane tip reduces the strength of the urethane tip at the insert arms.
One approach for maintaining the urethane tip on the metal insert is to first prepare the metal insert by sandblasting the metal insert and spraying the metal insert with adhesive. The urethane tip is molded onto the sandblasted metal insert, with the roughened surface and the adhesive securely bonding the urethane and the metal insert together. The process of sandblasting and spraying adhesive onto the metal insert increases the number of steps and time required for the manufacture of the scraper blade, thereby also increasing its overall cost.